Doston, countrymen and my fellow non-vegetarians, lend me tickle your minds and your tastebuds, because today, we are going to be talking about the mouth-watering, starting-a-party-in-your-mouth dish called butter-chicken.
Anyone who has eaten it will know why I sing its praises, and anyone who hasn't eaten it, all I can say is you're missing out. Agar chance mila, and if you eat non-veg, you should definitely give it a try.
The reason I'm writing this piece is because one day, I heard about how they had some awesome butter-chicken in England, and that reminded me of some really good butter-chicken I had here in New Zealand. That's when I started to wonder, how has butter-chicken become so widespread? And why do so many people like it? In fact, what are the origins of butter chicken? When was it first made and by whom? So many questions but sadly, no answers. So I decided to look into it myself and share my knowledge with you. So let's board a chicken leg and head down the butter river, and look for some answers.
The origins of butter-chicken
I used to think that butter-chicken was something that had been in India's cookbook for hundreds of years. It turns out I was wrong.
According to NDTV Food.com, butter chicken came at the time of pre-partition India, in Peshawar, from a man named Kundan Lal Gujral. One day, he realised that "the Tandoori chicken hanging on the seekhs above the tandoor all day would tend to dry out if unsold." To solve this, he had the idea of making gravy from tomatoes, butter, cream and spices. Once the chicken touched this concoction, butter chicken was born.
When India was partitioned, Gujral went to Delhi and brought his recipes with him. Over the years, his butter-chicken became coveted and famous. And the rest is history.
So now we've seen its origin. Now let's look into how it spread.
Butter-Chicken's rise in the world
Nowadays you can find butter-chicken almost everywhere. From India to Malaysia to New-Zealand to England. How and why?
First-off, the world has become more connected than ever before. Thanks to this, the people who know how to make butter-chicken are able to go around the world, settle down and give their delicious meals to anyone who asks for it. They are also able to teach more people, who go on to spread the joy, and the knowledge.
Another reason why it became so popular is probably because of the taste. There are two things which make butter-chicken so tasty. The butter and cream, and the spices.
Now, anyone who is familiar with cooking will know that adding things like butter and cream to meats, tends to make it much richer and tastier. Jab swaad hain tub jadoo hain.
The next thing is spices. Spices have always made food taste better. Heck, merchants used to risk their lives to sell spices in faraway lands; empires were built on them, they were just that popular.
So, when you take a dish that combines these two awesome things together, is it any wonder that butter-chicken became as popular and coveted as it is? Nahi yaar, of course it makes sense.
I have to say that now I have worked up an appetite and I think I'll go and get myself a nice plate of butter-chicken and Naan. As soon as this lockdown is over!